Principal UX Researcher

Job Description

Principal UX Researcher | Microsoft

The Tone:
This is a full-time role at Microsoft, located in hybrid U.S. offices, including the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and other designated Microsoft U.S. offices. The Microsoft AI Monetization team is dedicated to building the next generation of AI-powered products that serve business customers. This role is crucial for shaping the future of advertising and monetization in the AI era by anchoring product decisions in robust research and a deep understanding of user needs.

The TL;DR
• Role: Full Time
• Type: Full-time
• Location: Hybrid, USA (California), USA (Washington), USA (New York)
• Pay: $142800–$304200 yearly
• Team: Design, Research & Content team within Microsoft AI Monetization
• Mission: Set the strategic direction for AI-powered monetization experiences through deep customer understanding.

What You’ll Actually Do
• Guide: Shape product development by uncovering deep customer insights and motivations to build relevant and impactful global experiences.
• Strategize: Define product direction and priorities through rigorous, multi-stage research programs executed to the highest standards.
• Collaborate: Foster strong partnerships across design, engineering, and product teams, driving cross-team collaborations from early product stages to final implementations.
• Influence: Impact high-level organizational decisions and elevate the overall research craft and methodologies within the team.
• Innovate: Discover novel opportunities and generate creative ideas to improve research processes, team culture, and our approach to user understanding.

The Must-Haves
• Background: Principal-level role requiring a Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent experience in Human-Computer Interaction, Computer Science, Technical Communications, Information Science, or a related behavioral or social science field.
• Experience: Requires a minimum of 6 years in User Experience Research, with 8+ years preferred, spanning B2B, B2C, and AI product development.
• Skills: Mixed-methods research expertise, encompassing both qualitative and quantitative approaches; exceptional communication, presentation, and storytelling abilities to energize teams; proven capability to balance rigorous research with agile execution in a fast-moving environment; strong analytical skills for deep data interpretation and uncovering unspoken user needs.
• Bonus: Demonstrated championing of fundamentals of user experience, including accessibility and inclusive design; experience with commonly used research tools.